Navi Mumbai SEZ Private Ltd, promoted by Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani and his associate Anand Jain, has been given one more year to set up its three IT/ITES special ecomomic zones (SEZs) at Ulwe, Navi Mumbai.
The projects were yet to take off despite being proposed eight years back.
A decision to extend the validity of the formal approvals for the three SEZs in Ulwe for the sixth time was taken by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZs in its recent meeting after the company pleaded that the delay was due to non-enactment of the state SEZ policy by the Maharashtra government.
“After going through the reasons given by the developer for the delay and taking stock of the investments already made by it in infrastructure, the BoA decided to give it one more year to implement the projects,” a government official told
The formal approvals for two of the three SEZs have been extended till October 24, 2016, while the third one’s extension is till November 21.
Navi Mumbai SEZ, in its request for extension, had pleaded that as a developer, it had to take risk and incur the entire capital expenditure, but units would not come unless the State SEZ Act is enacted. So, it had no option but to wait for the policy.
It also said that imposition of minimum alternate tax and dividend distribution tax on SEZs had made the zones unattractive for units.
The BoA, in its meeting on December 30 also extended the validity of formal approvals by a year for setting up of IT/ITES SEZs by Uralungal Labour Contract Co Operative Society Limited (ULCCS Ltd) at Nellikode Village, Kozhikode, Kerala, and by GP Realtors Pvt Ltd at village Behrampur, District Gurgaon, Haryana.
Other projectsA year’s validity extension of formal approval was also given to Frontier Lifeline Pvt Ltd for setting up of sector specific SEZ for Biotechnology at Edur Elavur Village, Gummidipoondi Taluk, Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu.
The BoA is headed by the Commerce Secretary and is represented by officials from a number of Ministries and Departments, including Revenue, Home, Law, Urban Development, DIPP and state governments concerned.
With the government not making any relaxations in its decision to impose MAT and DDT on SEZs and a general deterioration in the investment environment, a large number of investors have been pulling out of the zones.
Operational SEZsThe BoA de-notified 56 SEZ proposals in February last year and 22 more in May.
At present, there are 204 operational SEZs in the country with a total investment of ₹3,63,112.46 crore and providing employment for 15,44,526, according to the government figures.